I've been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I started selling cool rocks even before I sold lemonade. At age 8, I hired my two friends to deliver newspapers and gave them 75 cents a day, and I kept 25 cents. I've gone on to start much larger companies, divisions within companies, both within the US and outside, that have led to both success and failure. Venture backed, partnerships, bootstrapped, high growth, retail, commercial real estate, technology, energy, B2B, B2C, B20 - nobody is there to buy) and more. I’ve learned my greatest life and business lessons from my failures. I recently completed a book for Wiley & Sons, entitled The 7 Non Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results, which you can read about here: http://www.7nns.com. My current company, Fishbowl, is a culmination of everything I’ve learned over my 30-plus business years.

Successful Entrepreneurs 'Suck A Lot Of Gravel'

One of our employees stopped by my office at Fishbowl recently and offered some sage advice that his father had passed on to him. His name is Malcolm Felt and by nature he’s a cheerful, gentle, and optimistic employee, and his advice stuck with me. Like most software companies, we are stretching ourselves every day to remain relevant and in the game and to also keep our teams focused and motivated. Malcolm commented, “Dave, sometimes you just gotta suck a little gravel.”

His comment was intriguing, especially when you take into consideration his thoughtful nature. So I asked him to further explain this new-found wisdom and he shared:

“When I was younger (he’s still pretty young) my dad would talk to me about what it was like to be an entrepreneur and a business owner. He had this phrase for describing the feeling that every entrepreneur goes through when they jump into something they haven’t done before.

“The term was ‘sucking gravel.’ The visual was something to the effect of being pulled behind a truck on a gravel road with your mouth open.

“It’s that first two-year period in a business where you are doing everything in your power to gain momentum. Oftentimes this means not making a large amount of profit as things ramp up, but you still put in the sleepless nights working to make things happen.

“A true entrepreneur is someone who is not afraid to suck gravel, jumping into something they have never done before, working hard to learn as much as possible, and figuring out a way to make things happen. It’s not knowing beforehand how you will surmount challenges when they arrive, but knowing that if there is a way solve a problem, you will work tirelessly to figure it out.

“The times where I have learned the most were when I was willing to suck gravel. Even when many things didn’t end up like I expected, I was far better off in other endeavors because I had sucked gravel for so long.”

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

Successful entrepreneurs intuitively understanding that life is challenging and we fully anticipate that from time to time life is going to drag us along for the ride. And while we are screaming for help or dropping our jaws in wonder, we will suck in more rocks than we can handle.

There are three keys points that I would like to share that have helped me and my team.

Don’t let the little rocks of life scare you. Remember, it’s just gravel and it will pass.

At the end of each day drop all the rocks that you have accumulated. Rocks are judgments, fears, and worries. There is really not a good reason to carry them with you.

Don’t take it personally when others throw rocks at you from events that caused them to “suck in gravel.” Offer compassion and understanding. Apologize and make amends when you can. Remain focused on the bigger picture of achieving your personal and team goals.

After all, as Malcolm points out, they’re only rocks and life is filled with them. To all you entrepreneurs, keep giving it your all and know that we’re rooting for you – gravel and all! “The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.” – Osho

Additional reporting for the article was provided by Mary Michelle Scott, President at Fishbowl.

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So true, we do seem to learn the most when things are the hardest yet we don’t like it very much at the time. But that’s why we are here. Just make sure when you have the hardest times that you do learn as much as possible.

I’ve never heard this phrase before, but it captures the experience well. To be successful I think you have to fear not trying more than eating gravel. By that I mean, will you at some point in you life look back and regret not having tried? For me I always believed it was better to try and fail than look back and wonder what might have been. Eating gravel is hard, and you don’t always find success, but if nothing else, it builds character, experience and makes you tougher.

So true. I like your comment that “…better to try and fail than look back and wonder what might have been.” I agree. Gravel is just one of many things that we may need to eat along the way. Sometimes nothing to eat is one of the choices.

Sucking gravel is a great visual and yet not so enjoyable when in reality that’s what it feels like. I appreciate Malcolm sharing this. I had not heard of the term before but certainly felt what he shared when he stated it.